Injuries aside. What doomed this team?
- Thread starter Tri-Countycat
- Start date
Not one passing, team first, leader point guard on the entire roster ! Not a recipe for success in Division 1 Basketball. Only one last season and after the injury it was the same thing. If you can’t bring the ball up the floor, break a press and set the offense, you’re going to lose a lot of games. Honestly had all the teams we played pressed all game like today, we probably win 15 game maybe this year.
coach
…Apart from the injuries….
….and apart from whatever happened with Quaintance really but let’s pretend that was injuries…..
This team could never play basketball. At all. Not like Pope needed them to, anyway, and he was never able to coach them up to whatever it was he actually needed from them.
So instead he “dumbed everything way down” on offense to where we swung the ball on the perimeter a bit, but mostly tried to chuck in threes or give it to Oweh for a drive attempt real late in the shot clock. Every once in a while a team would be so slow and leadfoot we could get a transition game going, and look good because we are generally long and somewhat athletic. And sometimes if we were hot enough, teams would come out so far to guard us that it started to look like we were actually playing basketball offense, when the most we were really doing was maybe playing a little Keep-away as we ran between them.
And on defense we spent all year constantly forgetting and relearning the most basic essentials of defensive positioning and switching, which we never gave up trying to do even though we never got particularly okay at it. All mostly without having our hands up.
It’s a little more complicated than that, technically. But in a nutshell that’s basically what happened all year. Pope realized he had a whole roster that didn’t know basketball the way he wanted to play it, and couldn’t learn it the way he could teach it, so all season we tried random heroics and feats of athleticism instead of team basketball as a strategy for winning. Twenty-two times we were feeling it enough or our opponents were short or slow or weak enough that it worked for us. (Word is that cost a cool million a game.) And fourteen times it didn’t.
….and apart from whatever happened with Quaintance really but let’s pretend that was injuries…..
This team could never play basketball. At all. Not like Pope needed them to, anyway, and he was never able to coach them up to whatever it was he actually needed from them.
So instead he “dumbed everything way down” on offense to where we swung the ball on the perimeter a bit, but mostly tried to chuck in threes or give it to Oweh for a drive attempt real late in the shot clock. Every once in a while a team would be so slow and leadfoot we could get a transition game going, and look good because we are generally long and somewhat athletic. And sometimes if we were hot enough, teams would come out so far to guard us that it started to look like we were actually playing basketball offense, when the most we were really doing was maybe playing a little Keep-away as we ran between them.
And on defense we spent all year constantly forgetting and relearning the most basic essentials of defensive positioning and switching, which we never gave up trying to do even though we never got particularly okay at it. All mostly without having our hands up.
It’s a little more complicated than that, technically. But in a nutshell that’s basically what happened all year. Pope realized he had a whole roster that didn’t know basketball the way he wanted to play it, and couldn’t learn it the way he could teach it, so all season we tried random heroics and feats of athleticism instead of team basketball as a strategy for winning. Twenty-two times we were feeling it enough or our opponents were short or slow or weak enough that it worked for us. (Word is that cost a cool million a game.) And fourteen times it didn’t.
Effing. Dork. This MFer and a dude that thinks a sweater vest are fashionable are killing the program.
Not a lot of guys on this team that were reliable scorers.
Whem you have to go into a game praying that Colin Chandler is hitting 3s...........you're in trouble.
Whem you have to go into a game praying that Colin Chandler is hitting 3s...........you're in trouble.
A guy that is set in one complex offense, then when he has a roster thats too dumb for it, he cant adjust at all.
I mean, pope didnt set up one play ever. How hard is ot to know when you cross the half youre going to get double teamed and you can't run anything to counter it?
Also, zero inspiration to rebound or play defense
I mean, pope didnt set up one play ever. How hard is ot to know when you cross the half youre going to get double teamed and you can't run anything to counter it?
Also, zero inspiration to rebound or play defense
This is a great point. He averaged 2.7 PPG as a freshman. If I told anyone in the preseason he was our 3rd leading scorer, people might’ve known something went way wrong.
I’m guessing he might’ve been the lowest paid guard on the roster behind Oweh, Lowe, Aberdeen, Johnson
Anyone who calls someone a "beta" probably shouldn't be listened to.
Did you know: The study done with wolves that claimed each pack had an "alpha male" has been disproven? It is no longer considered valid that pack wolves establish their pack based on a hierarchy with an "alpha male" as the leader.
This is "manosphere" Trump speak. IDK if you heard but Trump and his gang gets less and less liked everyday. That line of thought leads to us bombing Iran with no plan and losing our hegemony over the world - making all our historical allies hate us and sucking up to our enemies. That's not very "alpha" in my opinion. When you call Pope a "beta" you remind me of Pete Hegeseth. Do you want to be like Pete Hegeseth?
If you don't like Pope, that's fine, lots of people don't. However, most people are able to explain why they don't like Pope with facts and examples. Just saying Pope is a "Beta" is meaningless. It adds nothing to the discussion. This is the type of fanspeak that makes players and coaches not want to come here.
Are you an "Alpha"? Please tell us what makes you an "Alpha Male"?
Physically fit?
they are all beyond physically fit this level they lost to a team the players like their coach . Kentucky players see Pope as someone they don’t like but pays them. Pope is the Sugar Daddy.
The roster was never as good as the offseason hype. We didn’t have many multi-dimensional players, and the one tool players didn’t complement each other very well. As a result, we failed to ever really form any kind of identity.
The in-game coaching definitely didn’t help either. We lacked in the fundamentals, and the substitution pattern often seemed completely aimless. I was actually fairly high on Pope at the end of last season, but he really undid a lot of that goodwill and possibly then some. Given that roster building is also on him, he pretty much struggled across the board this year.
The in-game coaching definitely didn’t help either. We lacked in the fundamentals, and the substitution pattern often seemed completely aimless. I was actually fairly high on Pope at the end of last season, but he really undid a lot of that goodwill and possibly then some. Given that roster building is also on him, he pretty much struggled across the board this year.
It was a roster built to play a style of basketball Pope isn’t accustomed to coaching. He tried to roster build around his weaknesses and instead we got those weaknesses while negating his strengths.
What is the complex offense, zoom?
it’s taught in every junior high because it’s the easiest offense to teach.
Sorry I didn’t read my National Geographic before posting this. Most people that don’t like Pope have explained it ad nauseum. How about recruiting, the most double digit deficits in UK history, the fact that he barely has a 500 record against power 5 teams, not having a pedigree to have been hired, his offense, his defensive strategy, his roster construction, his press conference, the most blowouts by any UK coach in their first two years, an winless record vs any Alabama school, plus Mike White, nothing higher that a 6th place finish in conference. I could go on and on and on.
In terms of Beta. You really ran with that: it’s a figure of speech and you cant deny Popes lack of aggression. You turning a sports board political says all I need to know. If I wanted your political opinion, I would have talked politics. Pope has let opposition coaches and referees push him around all year and never says a word. He doesn’t fight for his team. He has allowed terrible shot selection from his team and has allowed them to quit in games. You can use the word beta or you can call it something else, but he is a weak leader, period.
Am I an alpha? Good question, I’ve done really really well for myself, 48 years old, working for a top 3 pharma company, could retire if I wanted, raising 3 strong daughters, and I certainly have never let someone **** on me.
The only double figure scorers are graduating. They were our offense, They were the only players who could get to the rim. Otherwise the roster featured complimentary players.
This was our worse ball handling and passing team ever. Last year featured one of our best . If you bring back all of the players then expect the very same result. Their basketball iQ, ability to pass the ball, and ball handling will not improve dramatically at this point in their lives.
This was our worse ball handling and passing team ever. Last year featured one of our best . If you bring back all of the players then expect the very same result. Their basketball iQ, ability to pass the ball, and ball handling will not improve dramatically at this point in their lives.
Mediocre talent, a coach in over his head, an AD out of touch with the current landscape of college sports, and possibly a piss-poor sports management company
I said it last summer, even when expectations by most were high, I had 2 concerns:
1) 3pt shooting, I thought we had several guys who could make them, but not enough high % 3pt shooters. And I was right, we had only 1.
2) while I liked the role players we added, I thought they were all role players, and none were "Dudes". You have to have 3 guys (at a bare minimum 2) who can go get you a bucket when you need one. Oweh was the only one I saw. Again, I was right. JQ as good as he could have been, I don't think would have been that. Kam wasn't going to be that. Maybe Lowe had a chance to be.
1) 3pt shooting, I thought we had several guys who could make them, but not enough high % 3pt shooters. And I was right, we had only 1.
2) while I liked the role players we added, I thought they were all role players, and none were "Dudes". You have to have 3 guys (at a bare minimum 2) who can go get you a bucket when you need one. Oweh was the only one I saw. Again, I was right. JQ as good as he could have been, I don't think would have been that. Kam wasn't going to be that. Maybe Lowe had a chance to be.
Not fair and not true. He has one flaw but it's a doozie...constructing a roster. If he was able to do that right you'd be amazed how much better he'd look.
1. The HS class was good with Moreno, JJ and Acaden....but whiffing on Caleb Wilson would have made it a great class.
2. Bringing in Jalend Lowe was a huge blow. (missed on Dent, GIllespie, the kid that went to LSU, etc...)...to settle back on a 36% FG and 26% 3pt shooter was epic fail. Regardless of how you feel Acaden should have reacted....he clearly was not on board with backing up a scrub for 2 years.
3. I liked Kam signing....Diabate is also liked as we needed toughness...but Jelly was a non shooting foreign big....we never fixed the PF spot
4. We had to replace Amari....and we all know Garrison wasn't good enough to replace him. So taking Garrison back with Moreno and then risking Quantencance off of ACL clearly blew up in Pope's face. (And I argue Quantenance did a Shady Sharpe 2.0 and that kid can go kick rocks for all I care....he opted out once he saw he wasn't a natural fit at this Five out offense)
5. We pick up Aberdeen late...which was a great signing.
So the season begins
1. Lowe gets hurt....sucks but he was never going to be the answer as teams clearly went under his ball screens and he was shooting poorly as he can't shoot nor stay in front of anyone.
2. The team gelled a bit mid season with Aberdeen got feeling of PG, Chandler was a top 3pt sniper in SEC, Oweh is a good scorer, Kam was a stretch PF/guard guys and Moreno established some things. Then Kam gets hurt and we fell back which was killer blow.
BUt in the end, for 2 years now....Pope led teams simply can't win unless they shoot it well from 3pt. They hardly play hard, poor rebounding team, defensive stats are poor once again. He simply isn't the man for the job.....but we'll waste next year thanks to Mitch/Capiluto as they act more like politicians sucking off the taxpayer tit....
All in all, UK is in a mess.
2. Bringing in Jalend Lowe was a huge blow. (missed on Dent, GIllespie, the kid that went to LSU, etc...)...to settle back on a 36% FG and 26% 3pt shooter was epic fail. Regardless of how you feel Acaden should have reacted....he clearly was not on board with backing up a scrub for 2 years.
3. I liked Kam signing....Diabate is also liked as we needed toughness...but Jelly was a non shooting foreign big....we never fixed the PF spot
4. We had to replace Amari....and we all know Garrison wasn't good enough to replace him. So taking Garrison back with Moreno and then risking Quantencance off of ACL clearly blew up in Pope's face. (And I argue Quantenance did a Shady Sharpe 2.0 and that kid can go kick rocks for all I care....he opted out once he saw he wasn't a natural fit at this Five out offense)
5. We pick up Aberdeen late...which was a great signing.
So the season begins
1. Lowe gets hurt....sucks but he was never going to be the answer as teams clearly went under his ball screens and he was shooting poorly as he can't shoot nor stay in front of anyone.
2. The team gelled a bit mid season with Aberdeen got feeling of PG, Chandler was a top 3pt sniper in SEC, Oweh is a good scorer, Kam was a stretch PF/guard guys and Moreno established some things. Then Kam gets hurt and we fell back which was killer blow.
BUt in the end, for 2 years now....Pope led teams simply can't win unless they shoot it well from 3pt. They hardly play hard, poor rebounding team, defensive stats are poor once again. He simply isn't the man for the job.....but we'll waste next year thanks to Mitch/Capiluto as they act more like politicians sucking off the taxpayer tit....
All in all, UK is in a mess.